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“Food is a prism that absorbs and reflects a host of cultural phenomena,” says Jin Feng. “An examination of Chinese and Chinese American foodways — behaviors and beliefs surrounding the production, distribution, processing, preparation, and consumption of food — reveals power relations and ways of constructing class, gender, and racial identities.”

This fall, students in Feng’s special topic course, Some Chinese Food for Thought, analyzes foodways in various historical and contemporary contexts. They’ll “bring different types of materials and approaches to bear on the study of our most basic, visceral experience,” says Feng.